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Slover Avenue

Cristobal or Isaac Slover, hunter and trapper, settled with his wife Dona Barbarita at the south end of what is now Slover Mountain about 1842. He had spent many years as a hunter in the Rocky Mountains, where he had metJohn Brown, Sr.at a fort on the Arkansas River in Colorado, later known as the town of Pueblo.

When Brown came to California in 1852 and settled next door toSheldon Stoddardat the Mormon Fort, he heard of a man named Slover who liked to hunt bears. "To my great surprise here I again met my old Rocky Mountain hunter, Cristobal Slover and his faithful wife, Dona Barbarita", Brown stated in his Medium of the Rockies.1

Californians lassoing a bear.

"One day he (Slover) went with his companion, Bill McMines, up the left fork of theCajon Passalmost to the summit where he came across a large grizzly and Slover fired at close range. The bear fell but soon rose and crawled away and laid down in some oak brush. Slover, after reloading his rifle, began approaching the monster in spite of the objection of McMines. As the old experienced bear hunter reached the brush the bear gave a sudden spring and fell on Mr. Slover, tearing him almost to pieces. McMines came down the mountain and told the tale, and a party went back and cautiously approached the spot; found the bear dead, but Slover still breathing but insensible. He was brought down to Sycamore Grove on a rude litter and there died. The scalp was torn from his head, his legs and one arm broken, the whole body bruised and torn. He was taken to his home and buried between his adobe house and the mountain; the spot was not marked.2

Before it was named after Isaac Slover, theIndianscalled the hill "Tahualtapa", or Hill of the Ravens, because so many nested there. The pioneers called it "Marble Mountain". Lime kilns were in operation there in the 1850's, and from 1861- 87, two successive marble companies cut slabs of the beautiful material, which was used in the Lankershim Hotel in Los Angeles, and in the Monadnock and Crossley buildings in San Francisco, to name a few. In 1891 the California Portland Cement Company was formed, and continues extracting valuable raw materials from Mt. Slover even today.3 The picture below was made in1892, when Mt. Slover still had its original profile.